Before you hit the hill, you must first become acquainted with you primary piece of equipment - the Snowboard. Moreover, you must know what a Snowboard consists of, its different elements, and how it works before you should even try to ride one. In this section, you will learn that Snowboards nowadays are highly technical feats of engineering. If you already have a Snowboard, take time to identify the following elements:

Base

This is the bottom side of the Snowboard, the part that is in contact with the snow. Getting bases that glide faster is the perpetual quest of any serious tuner or racer.

Most Snowboard bases are made from a polyethylene material called P-Tex. These bases are either "sintered" or "extruded" type. Extruded bases are melted and cut to shape. They are long lasting, cheaper to maintain and easy to repair. However, the extruded type of base is the slowest and holds less wax than the other types of bases. Sintered bases, on the other hand, are first grounded into powder, heated, pressed, and then sliced into shape. A sintered base is superior to the extruded base - it's more durable, faster, and holds wax better. Even so, it's more expensive and difficult to repair.

If you're looking for high performance, opt for a Snowboard with a sintered base. Then again, if you're on a tight budget, an extruded model will do.

Other materials can be added to a sintered base to improve performance. High-end performance snowboards can have graphite bases, gallium bases and wax infused bases. These materials work well with sintered bases because they have unique properties which will reduce friction and help the snowboard slide faster on the snow. There are processes companies also use to make their boards slide even faster. Some companies cut dimples into the base or stone grind the base. In addition to using performance materials, stone grinding and dimpling will further break the suction on the snow and help the board slide faster. It is not important for everyone to have the fastest possible base, however expert snowboarders who want to improve their speed any way possible can appreciate the new base technology.

Flex Point

The flex point is located between the two bindings This is the point where the board begins or ends its flex, and allows for sidecut radius contact. "Stiff torsional flex" allows a board to grip hard snow and Ice. On the other hand, "soft torsional flex" makes a board less responsive, but more forgiving to the rider.

Good to know. I think it would be cool if the forum had training/info sections that talked about board maintenance, recommendations, what is required and not required as well as recommended and also use that to promote its products.

Would tell us what we should know (for those of us who don't) and prob help our in increasing sales.

as a shop guy the whole easier to repair thing is really kind of a joke it's the same exact thing for either a sintered or extruded base, prep the repair you need to do, shoot some ptex in there or so a base weld, and scrape/plane of the excess. No difference in repairing one of the other, and whoever paid 75$ for a ptex job got robbed esp if it came out in a year and they don't fix it for free, if you're in the tahoe area bring it into finish line at sugar bowl and we'll take care of you.

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